RECORD REVIEWS.

Sheryl Crow C'Mon, C'Mon (A&M) The first single...

April 21, 2002|By Greg Kot.

Sheryl Crow

C'Mon, C'Mon (A&M)

The first single, "Soak Up the Sun," is pretty irresistible; like most of Crow's best music, the chorus sounds like it's been lying around for years, just waiting for an opportunistic singer to sweep it into our living rooms. Originality is not Crow's strong suit, but her best songs invariably dig deeper than other archivists because she brings a singer-songwriter's sense of detail to her recycled melodies. But on her fourth album she buffs out the rough edges in her music; in that sense she's a true child of '70s California pop-rock. "C'mon, C'mon" is packed with references to that era, from the wordless harmony vocals lifted from Steve Miller's "Keep on Rockin' Me Baby" on the opening "Steve McQueen" to the cameos by Don Henley and Stevie Nicks. It's also packed with schmaltzy ballads that make it her least satisfying album yet.